Australia vs South Africa, 3rd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Australia, under Mitch Marsh, is slowly turning out to be one of the most selfless teams in international cricket. With the T20 World Cup less than 6 months from now, this is a warning sign to all the top teams. No better example than the duo of Marsh and Maxwell who epitomize what the team is all about. Often guilty of not finishing games, Maxwell unlocked his inner beast today and proved that no boundary is big enough for him. And if this is any indication of what is to come in the ODI series, we are in for a thrill-a-minute ride folks. Remember, the 1st of the 3-match ODI series starts on Tuesday at the same venue. Do join us for all the fun. Until then, cheers from the trio of Raju Peethala, Abhinand Raghavendran and Praveen Kumar. Au revoir!!

Mitch Marsh | Australian skipper: Always nice to win the close ones in T20 cricket, very thankful that Maxi got us over the line., He is a world class player and he does everything for the team. Always nice to contribute to win (talking about his fifty) which is the most important thing, Looking forward to it (the ODI series). Anytime you play against South Africa, it is always going to be tough. We are back here in few days time and it is goung to be a hard series.

Aiden Markram | South African skipper: Good game of cricket, ended up on the wrong side unfortunately. Small margins. Not enough on the board tonight, but we fought well with the ball. Not the way we wanted to end, but still some good things to take from this series. Not many people can do what he (Brevis) does and he is a very special player and works really hard on his game. We kept improving and there is plenty of good for us to take from this series, but never great to lose it.

Tim David | Player of the Series: Without Maxi playing a blinder inning tonight, I wouldn't have been standing here. There's been contributions from everyone in this series. We've had so much fun, we had a great time playing up in the northern Australia. Let's see what happens in the future. (On his batting form) Just enjoying going out there and competing. Keeping it really simple and not trying too hard. Form comes and goes but I feel like the lot of work I have been doing, it's been contributing to success for this team. We have got so many different people who can contribute, so I'm happy to be part of that at the moment.

Glenn Maxwell | Player of the Match: It was nerve-wracking when we lost a couple of wickets in a row. Corbin Bosch bowled a brilliant over. To keep the run-rate near 9 or 10, we were down to two wickets, I had to keep the majority of the strike. Nice to get a couple out of the middle right at the end. I just stay calm, watch the ball, try and not preempt too much, understand the areas where I can get the boundaries and where I can get the twos. Just tried to stay on strike as much as possible. We've had a great run with this T20 group. To have another series win against a quality opposition in South African is great for our confidence heading forward. There's still about 13-14 internationals before the T20 World Cup and we are building something really nice in this group. It's certainly a very fun change room to be in and I am enjoying every moment.

Both Marsh and Head struggled for timing initially, but they hung in long enough to engineer a 66-run stand in 8 overs. Skipper Marsh targetted the deep square region and scored 80 percent of his runs there during his 37-ball 54 that included 3 fours and 5 sixes. South Africa forged a mini comeback by picking 3 wickets in the space of 13 balls around the halfway stage, but they surely weren't ready for the Maxwell show. He looked in the zone from ball one and backed himself to clear the ropes during crunch moments. There was a bit of panic in the penultimate over, but Maxi turned it on in the final over to help his side get past the winning line. Post-match reactions imminent, stick around...

Australia in T20Is in 2025
Matches - 8
Sixes hit - 92
Balls/six - 9.5
Only West Indies in 2023 have hit more sixes at a better rate in a calendar year - 157 sixes in 13 T20Is at one every 9.2 balls.

Sixes hit in the series
Australia - 28
South Africa - 19 (14 by Dewald Brevis)

Australia in T20Is since July 2024
Beat Scotland 3-0 (A)
Drew 1-1 vs England (A)
Beat Pakistan 3-0 (H)
Beat West Indies 5-0 (A)
Beat South Africa 2-1 (H)

South Africa last ten bilaterals in T20Is
Lost
Lost
Lost
Drawn
Lost
Lost
Drawn
Lost
Won
Lost (most recent)

22:56 local, 12:56 GMT, 18:26 IST: As soon as Maxwell hit the winning runs, he roared in delight like a hungry Lion. Zampa was quick to rush towards him and offer a warm hug. The dug-out rise as one to applaud what has been a superb knock from one of best ball-strikers Australia has ever produced in white-ball cricket. Crazy scenes here at Cairns and the crowd couldn't have asked for a better finish to the first ever T20I played at the venue.

Ngidi to Maxwell, FOUR, the Big Show does it in his inimitable style. Australia win by 2 wickets and seal the series 2-1. It was a juicy full toss on the stumps, but Maxwell had decided to play a reverse scoop two weeks ago (read: premeditated shot). Was hurried by the pace, but there was decent contact on the shot to clear the short third fielder and trickle away to the fence...

4 needed off 2

Ngidi to Maxwell, no run, Maxwell doesn't want the single! He gets a full ball on the stumps and it's been drilled straight to long-on

Ngidi to Maxwell, no run, a high full toss outside off, Maxwell slices the drive to the left of short third where Muthusamy makes a diving stop. Was that a no-ball? The Australians certainly feel it was a no ball, but in fairness it was a right call you'd think...

Markram wants to have a chat with his bowler. A brief break in play now...

Ngidi to Maxwell, FOUR, full and wide this time, Maxwell loves the pace! He stays deep inside the crease and spanks the drive to the right of cover, beats the desperate dive of Pretorius in the deep as well...

Ngidi to Maxwell, 2 runs, Bosch with an excellent save. Maxwell slogged it leg-side and it appeared to be heading towards the boundary. Bosch ran across to his right from long-on and flicked the ball back from behind the ropes. Did that whilst losing momentum with both feet up in the air. Top stuff from the fast-bowling all-rounder....

Lungi Ngidi [3.0-0-24-0] is back into the attack

10 needed off 6